GE seeks canal access

Goal is to get around I-890 for loading facility to handle bigger turbines

By Eric Anderson

Published 9:19 pm, Thursday, September 17, 2015

Schenectady

A century ago, when the Erie Canal flowed through the General Electric property, the company would load its generators and turbines directly on barges.

The old canal long ago was filled in to create Erie Boulevard, the new canal shifted north to the Mohawk River, and rail lines now move turbines to the Port of Albany.

But as turbines get larger, GE once again is looking to the canal.

One problem: Interstate 890, which separates the back door of the massive turbine building from the canal, which in Schenectady is a channel in the river.

The Albany Business Review, quoting Brad Sherwood from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, reported Thursday that GE has been meeting with federal and state officials on plans to get around the obstacle to build a loading facility on the river.

GE now uses the canal to move turbine rotors and other equipment from GE to power plants on the Great Lakes. But first, those parts must move by rail or truck to the Port of Albany or another location for loading onto the canal barges.

In the 1990s, the state of New York provided funding so that one track of a Delaware & Hudson Railway double-track line could be removed and the other centered to provide extra clearances to get the trains between GE and the port.

But one economic development official said the larger turbines may be too big even for the improved rail line. Thus, the renewed interest in the canal.

The canal isn't available year-round. It typically closes in late fall and reopens in the spring.

The talks of returning to the canal started several years ago, said one source familiar with the issue.

Calls to GE, the state Canal Corporation, Sherwood at the Army Corps of Engineers, and local officials weren't returned.

But if the plan goes ahead, the Port of Albany will be ready.

A new dock project expected to get under way next spring includes so-called roll on — roll off capabilities, where cargo could be easily moved between the barge and the dock.

It's part of a project expected to cost from $15 million to $30 million that will stretch 830 feet along the Hudson's west shore from the port's Shed 5 to the end of the Cargill property, where a massive grain elevator is located, said Richard Hendrick, the port's general manager.

The project is expected to be completed during the second half of 2017.